Location[edit]
As its name implies, Wilshire/Vermont station is located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. The station itself is slightly to the east of the intersection, allowing diverging Red Line trains to head north underneath Vermont. A number of educational institutions, including Southwestern University and the Robert F Kennedy Community Schools, are located nearby.
Transit-oriented development[edit]
Above the station is the Wilshire Vermont Station mixed-use transit village development, a $136-million apartment and retail complex designed by the architecture firm Arquitectonica and developed by Urban Partners and MacFarlane Partners on land owned by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The development opened in 2007 and includes apartments, retail, and (as of 2009) an adjacent middle school.[2][3] The property is managed by Greystar.

Station layout[edit]
G
Street Level
Exit/Entrance
B1
Southbound/Eastbound
→ Red Line toward Union Station (Westlake/MacArthur Park) →
→ Purple Line toward Union Station (Westlake/MacArthur Park) →
Split platform, doors will open on the right
Mezzanine
faregates, ticket machines
B2
Northbound/Westbound
← Red Line toward North Hollywood (Vermont/Beverly)
← Purple Line toward Wilshire/Western (Wilshire/Normandie)
Split platform, doors will open on the left
Wilshire/Vermont Station is known to have the longest escalator in the United States west of the Mississippi River.[4]
The station is located where the Red Line and Purple Line converge on their way to Downtown Los Angeles. The station is designed with two platform levels: eastbound Purple and Red Line trains (to Union Station) use the upper level, and westbound Purple (to Wilshire/Western) and Red (to North Hollywood) trains use the lower level.
The upper platform's pillar art.
The lower platform's pillar art.
Artwork[edit]
The artwork at the station depicts typographic letters and symbols designed by Bob Zoell. The letters on the pillars of the lower platform spell out "going by-by", what the red line and its patrons do when they zoom in and out of the station. Addition artwork at the station is the creation of Peter Shire. The Wilshire/Vermont station also contains the two longest continuous escalators in the state of California (in fact, west of the Mississippi;[4] these escalators stretch from the ground level to the lower platform of the Wilshire/Vermont station.

Popular culture[edit]
In 2009, a sign listing the Wilshire/Vermont station was used in a Geico "It's So Easy A Caveman Could Do It" commercial featuring the song "Let Me Be Myself" by Three Doors Down.